Claimed: Unchartered Territory (2 page)

Chapter Two

2177 Somewhere around Jupiter’s orbit

Magnificent.

No matter how many times she made a trek into space the wonder of it all still took Dallas’ breath away. Three months out and her reaction was the same.

“Juno XI you should be approaching the coordinates mapped out,” mission control announced through the receiver of Dallas’ earpiece.

“Roger that,” she responded checking her control panel to verify the coordinates synched.

Everything was a go.

“Going to zero gravity for a visual confirmation of the anomaly.”

“Proceed Juno.”

Dallas released the gravity filter and unstrapped herself. It was purely for her own pleasure. She loved the weightless sensation of being able to float around the roomy cabin which could have easily accommodated a crew compliment of ten or more if not for the added fuel weighing the craft down. Although Juno’s primary propulsion for navigating Jupiter’s orbit relied on solar sails the warp function utilized to reach the planet’s orbit consumed a great deal of fuel and couldn’t support additional members, at least not currently.

She initiated the sequence to raise the outer metal shielding from the radiation protected windows.

“Good morning Dallas.”

She smiled in recognition of the familiar voice coming through from mission control.

“Bobby is that you? I thought you were sitting this one out to be with the family?”

There was a responding chuckle. “And miss this historic mission, not likely. It’s standing room only in here.”

“I bet.” Butterflies had been dancing in her belly for the last three days and now they were having a full on
Mardi gras
. “I’m holding steady with the coordinates and looking for visual confirmation of the singularity.”

“So I heard.”

Dallas knew radio silence would remain until she could confirm or deny a sighting. She was part way done in her circumnavigation of the command section when she caught a glimpse of something. Actually it was nothing. But the absence of objects in space was definitely something. Where there should be distant stars and constellations there was only blackness.

“It can’t be,” she mumbled under her breath. Her heart raced at the nearness of the singularity.

The coordinates should have put Juno XI at a more observational distance.

“Mission control visual confirmation has been established,” she confirmed.

There was a brief silence followed by a collection of loud cheers which reached through her ear piece. “Roger that Dallas, can you bring Juno around for the control deck cameras?”

“Will do.”

She pushed off in the direction of her command chair, not able to stop herself from staring at the opaque anomaly sitting just outside the crafts starboard windows.

“Re-establishing gravity,” she advised after harnessing herself. “And bringing Juno around for visual recordings.”

“Now, that’s something, or rather nothing,” Bobby let out.

“Yeah, that’s what I thought when I saw it too. The coordinates seem to be off so I’ll need to move to a safer distance.”

“Copy that Dallas.”

Reverse thrusters engaged Dallas watched the singularity grow smaller with her retreat. Still its yawning blackness was daunting.

“One thing is for certain it’s not a black hole at least not like any we’ve observed. There doesn’t seem to be any gravitational pull and at my previous proximity I should have been close enough to the event horizon to cause concern.”

“Can you provide the new coordinates for the singularity?”

“Already transmitting. How is the image coming through on your end?”

“Amazing. It’s like being right there with you. Your radiation levels are transmitting within mission specifications.”

“Copy that Bobby, everything is checking out normal here. The only hiccup was with the coordinates.”

“Let’s try to keep it that way,” the nervous humor in his voice registered through the headsets and mirrored her own feelings.

“Prepping probe one for launch.”

Juno XI was equipped with three interstellar probes each with its own scanners and sensors to take readings around the singularity and eventually into the void. Dallas set the trajectory for the path the first probe was to follow near the rim.

“Probe one is locked and loaded,” she confirmed.

“You have permission to launch at your ready.”

“Initiating countdown sequence.”

Five... four...

Dallas silently followed along with the digital count.

One
, she mouthed and jettisoned the probe. She saw it as it sped from her ship and towards the anomaly.

“Dallas, we have a visual on the probe from your vessel.”

“Good, I’m engaging the probe’s scanners now.” Working as she spoke Dallas initiated a monitor that would allow her and mission control to see all the images picked up by the probe.

“The probes transmission are intact, are you getting this Bobby?”

“Looking good on this end. Let’s see if you can get it to navigate away from the singularity for some measurements.”

“Roger that.”

The probe responded without a hitch to her commands swinging away from the distortion.

“Amazing,” Dallas couldn’t help but utter as the probe projected back a live feed of the objects size measuring it far larger than they originally estimated. If her calculations were correct, six maybe more of her ships could fit within the opening. She looked to her primary monitor as the probe began transmitting the anomaly’s properties.

“Dallas was a sensor check performed prior to launch?” Bobby asked.

“I performed a manual one last night and a diagnostic before I let her loose,” she confirmed but understood why the question was asked. According to the data being received the anomaly didn’t seem to be emitting any levels of radiation, which should have been impossible. With it being so close to Jupiter’s orbit there should have been a significant presence. Even with her ship’s shielding there were trace levels present in her cabin.

“Are you seeing the same levels of radiation we are here?”

“If you’re seeing zero than so am I, but I’m also picking up a strong electromagnetic field.”

“We’re getting those readings now. This is incredible!”

Dallas shared the same sentiment. She’d never seen anything like it. “I-I think we might very well be staring into the eye of a wormhole,” she uttered more to herself than the mission control team.

“Is the second probe ready for deployment?”

“It can be, but is there authorization to go ahead of schedule?”

“I’m staring at it on my screen you’re all green,” he replied.

“That’s enough for me. Probe two is ready to launch.”

“On your mark Dallas,” Bobby confirmed.

She launched the second probe into the mouth of the abyss. Minutes ticked by with the only transmission being dead air, or at least that’s the way it appeared on her screen from the information being transmitted back to her. Dallas worried the scanner had been damaged by the electromagnetic field and was in the process of typing in recall instructions when her screen suddenly lit up with a constellation formation unlike anything she’d ever seen.

“Mission Control we have a visual,” she said unable to control the smile in her voice.

“Roger that Dallas, we are seeing it clearly on this end too.”

“Reducing probe’s speed to perform a three-sixty scan,” she advised even as she entered the new instructions.

The probe’s shielding obviously held up through the abyss because it transmitted back devastatingly clear images. Dallas was right. It wasn’t any constellation she recognized.

It was true.

The obsidian mass in front of her was not a black hole but an actual wormhole.

One.

No.

Two moons were visible and orbited a distant sun. And just as the probe was nearing the completion of its rotation she caught her first glimpse of what was possibly a planet. Dallas paused the rotation cycle to move the probe in for a closer inspection of the far off world.

“It appears to be a planet,” she all but muttered not sure if she were doing so for herself or the mission control team.

There was a long silence.

“Is that…” Bobby trailed off but they were seeing the same transmission so Dallas knew what he was about to say.

“Water,” she supplied. “It looks like a large body of water and land formations.”

Like earth, but different. From their vantage they could glean various colors, huge amounts of orange intermixed in some areas with green. Could it represent vegetation? If, so what other sort of life could the planet sustain.

“Is that right, am I seeing the makings of plant life?” Bobby asked.

“It’s only speculation for now, we’ll have to send the rover through to the surface to be certain,” she clarified stamping down the excitement bubbling inside her at the find. “First, I want to send the probe on a rotation of this hemisphere.”

“Roger that Dallas.”

With new command inputs for the probe, she was in the process of executing the surveillance protocols when there was a sudden flash from the planet’s surface.

The screen went dark.

All transmission ended.

Dallas could hear the scurrying of feet mixed with confused conversation in the mission control tower.

“What happened?” Bobby asked.

“Not sure,” was all she could provide as she went through a system check then attempted to bring the probe back online.

Nothing worked. For good measure she ran through the diagnostics again and made several more unsuccessful tries at restoring control of the probe.

She slumped back in her command seat feeling as if she’d just run a marathon. “It’s gone.”

“How soon can we launch the rover?”

Dallas could practically feel Bobby’s anticipation through space.

“We should analyze the data we have first before attempting the final launch.”

“Of course, but how long are we talking? A few hours?”

“More like a day or two. Something interfered with that probe and we need to know what we missed.”

“Let’s aim for a day then,” he insisted but she knew he was only parroting the order of their superiors as it flashed across his monitor.

Her thoughts shifted from the anxious group of people back on earth to what might have caused the probe to malfunction. That flash was definitely something other than the probe burning up in the planet’s atmosphere. She had to have answers before proceeding; no way was she going to have her last mission be a bust because some suits wanted to go off half cocked.

***

Chezar, Sector Two
(the other side of the wormhole)

“Watch Leader, sensors are picking up an unidentified object emerging from the aperture,” the centurion on duty reported.

“Pull it up on screen,” his superior ordered.

The object on the viewer generated a buzz of interest in the room.

“Another sphere, this makes a second in less than two
creons
,” the Watch Leader muttered before moving into the isolation room which also doubled as his private office. There he could patch in to his commanding leader for further instruction.

Outside the tower room personnel were riveted by the projection of the alien device flying miles above the planet’s surface. There wasn’t a long wait before the Watch Leader stepped back into the tower room.

“Bring the device in,” he ordered. “Looks like
E’rth
has sent us another treat.”

***

A frustrated Dallas shifted away from the monitor she’d poured over for countless hours. Mission control would remain silent until their next appointed check-in or unless the team had new information to report. Her tired eyes could barely see straight, which only added to her annoyance.

She checked the time and groaned at the lapse since she’d last bothered with it. Normally, she held to a sleep schedule which kept in line with the Eastern Standard time zone, but she was up well passed her bedtime. A couple hours of downtime should give her tired eyes and body the rest it needed to approach the data again.

“Mission control I’m going to get a few winks, someone make sure Bobby does the same.”

There was an unidentified chuckle from the other end. “Roger that Dallas.”

Dallas abandoned the command area for her nearby bunk compartment. It was close quarters but contained the one essential item she needed. Settling on the bunk she could almost hear her body thanking her for the coming reprieve. No sooner then she laid her head on the pillow her heavy eyelids drifted down and sweet sleep claimed her.

***

It was a dream, of that she was certain. She knew it because only her mind could drudge up such a spectacular looking creature. She smiled in recognition. He’d starred briefly in a few dreams since her departure. Part man and part… well whatever he was it made for a perfectly decadent dream. Not like that time she’d dreamt about her third year chemistry professor with the bad hair augmentation.